Alexander the Last

Joe Swanberg has previously used the plot device of a woman torn between two competing romantic prospects in his shamefully weak 2007 film 'Hannah Takes The Stairs'. It's a theme that has been used in drama and literature for centuries, but 'Alexander The Last' provides a fresh perspective on the old double-backed beast, and also reveals an exponential growth in the director's film-making sophistication since his earlier project. The film opens with a pair of attractive sisters making vows of life-long loyalty to one another. One of them is Alex, a young married actress who has just been hired for a fringe drama production, while her musician husband prepares to depart on a tour. When the theater rehearsals commence, Alex becomes friendly with Jamie, an actor who is playing the part of her stage lover. Jamie is from out of town, so Alex invites him to sleep on the sofa at her apartment. Later, with ambivalent motives, she decides to hook him up with her sister, just as the two actors begin work on an intimate love-scene for their play. By the time her husband returns from his tour, Alex is completely disoriented, unable to separate her stage character's issues from her own. Jess Weixler depicts Alex's inner turmoil with her customary sensitivity and skill, as this sympathetic young woman becomes increasingly confused by a heady cocktail of lust, jealousy and guilt. When her repressed conflict does flare up for a brief moment, its effect is shockingly intense due to the film's casually naturalistic style. Just as dramatic artifice had provoked his actress heroine's earlier bewilderment, Swanberg neatly utilizes the same method to resolve matters at the film's conclusion. It's a rewarding experience to see an artist mature before one's eyes - and 'Alexander The Last' leaves one eagerly anticipating Swanberg's next project.

Many people seem to say that "not much happens" in Swanberg films and, from this example, I guess they must be correct! It had a certain charm, but I'm not planning to watch (m)any more of his films to see if this is typical. OK if you are in the right mood, I guess.

This is a nice retake on 8 e mezzo. It would have been ridiculous for Swanberg to write about writer's block. So it's about actors feeling for other other actors. And the acting is good. And it's probably accidental, but something in the scenes reminds me of the Eastern European dramas from three decades ago. And the contrast with the governmental made actors makes the characters in here seem even more natural. In a way in character, the people in here are more real than the Eastern European actors in real life. Still, the script is a bit convoluted. By half time I was having a hard time following who has sex with whom and desires whom. Each relationship could have been made into a short NetFlix series. For a feature film it sure needed some more rewriting.

I do not have a lot of experience in this genre of the independent film movement. But, in our search for the next John Cassavetes, we have to ask if Joe Swanberg is one to watch. Low budget, improvised dialog (just about everyone in the film gets a writing credit), and a look at the lives of twenty-somethings, is part of the genre called "mumblecore" or " bedhead cinema" or "Slackavetes" in an homage to Cassavetes. My only previous experience has been Mark and Jay Duplass' film The Puffy Chair. The film is about relationships, real and imaginary and how the two blend. Jess Weixler, who I loved in Teeth, is a stage actress in a way off Broadway production. She is married to Eliott (Justin Rice), a travelling musician. She brings Jaime (Barlow Jacobs - Shotgun Stories) home after rehearsal, as he has no where else to go. She tries to hook him up with her sister Hellen (Amy Seimetz - Wristcutters: A Love Story). The problem is that the lovemaking on stage is moving off stage. The imaginary is becoming real. No big surprise there as the stage sex is pretty real. Of course, Hellen starts becoming jealous and accusatory, so her relationship with Alex (Weixler) deteriorates. The real starts to affect the imaginary as the stage relationship is strained. The film had it's World Premiere last weekend at the SXSW.

After having slogged through Joe Swanberg's unwatchable "Hannah Takes the Stairs" a couple of years back, you can probably imagine I was not that thrilled when I saw his name at the start of this film. I decided to keep an open mind and sallied forth anyway. The results were, unfortunately, about what I expected. As with "Hannah", this is a largely improvised movie that seemingly goes nowhere—at ten miles an hour at that. The plot involves the characters working on a play with tribulations that spill over into their real lives but it's about as interesting as watching an actual play rehearsal. The movie has very little actual story and I simply could not get involved with this at all. Maybe it's me; maybe I don't get the whole "Mumblecore" genre of films about twenty-somethings but at just an hour and a quarter, it was an ordeal to sit through, even on TV at home. How does one do a movie with improvised dialog? Watch "A Mighty Wind", "Waiting for Guffman" or any one of the Christopher Guest-directed movies. That's how you do it, folks. Mr. Swanberg, this is the last film of yours I will be wasting my time with. I applaud young filmmakers willing to take chances but you've got to engage your audience if you want to keep them awake and coming back for more.

... a bunch of twenty-something-actors improvising a movie... might be fun for them, not so much for viewers watching... had seen this several years back and again just recently... it's boring, at times annoying, and for lots a waste of their time.